Yale Season Opener Gives Taste of What's to Come

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Coxe Cage was alive with Yale track and field action for the first time in months on Saturday as the Bulldogs hosted their season-opening meet. The unscored competition gave the team a chance to see how its preparations are coming befvore diving into the dual meet season and beyond in 2012. This year's freshmen made their collegiate debuts at the meet, and were the highest-placing athletes from Yale in several events.

The honor of highest-placing freshmen went to three athletes who all placed second in their events. Freshman Emily Cable, who was second of 36 athletes in the 200-meter dash in 25.56, just 0.01 seconds off of first place. This time, only Cable's first of the season, ties her for fifth-place on the Yale career list. She lead a barrage of Yale blue across the finish line of the race: senior Alexa Monti was sixth (25.87-- the ninth fastest time by a Yale athlete indoors), freshman Ashleigh Delemos was 14th (26.76), senior Emily Shulan was 15th (26.84), junior Dakota McCoy was 19th (27.82) and sophomore Amanda Snajder was 21st (27.95).

Freshman Anna Demaree was second in the 3,000-meter run, finishing behind sophomore Sarah Barry, who won the event. Barry crossed the line in 9:59.97, followed by Demaree in 10:18.96, then senior Madeline Adams in third (10:22.71) and freshman Alyssa Laguardia in seventh (11:12.46).

Four Bulldogs swept in the 5,000-meter run, claiming the first four places. Junior Victoria Flannery was first across the line in 18:41.80, followed narrowly by freshman Hannah Alpert in 18:44.65 and sophomore Rachel O'Driscoll in 18:45.87. Sophomore Clare Kane was fourth in 19:00.48.

Delemos also competed in the 60-meter hurdles, finishing fourth in the final heat after coming in third in the preliminary. Delemos finished both races in 9.32 seconds. Snajder (6th- 9.47) and Cable (7th- 9.57) joined her in the final and McCoy (11th- 9.79) and junior Jenna Poggi (14th- 10.30) also competed.

In other sprinting action, Monti was third in the 60-meter dash. She finished in 7.87, just ahead of senior Marieme Mbaye in fourth (8.01). Junior Allison Rue was third in the 500-meter dash in 1:18.03, finishing within a second of her seed time but just barely edged out of second place by Raysa Florentino of Southern Connecticut State University (1:18.03).

Yale's 4x400-meter relay team, comprised mostly of freshmen, put together a second-place effort. Freshman Elle Brunsdale, Cable, Delemos and Rue combined to finish in 4:02.49. A second Bulldog relay team of sophomore Teresa Parent, Mbaye, sophomore Emily Urciuoli and Monti finished in 4:10.76, good for third place.

For the vertical jumps, Urciuoli was second in the pole vault, tying her indoor personal best of 3.45m (11'3.75"-- third all-time) from last winter. Poggi took third in the pole vault with a leap of 3.14m (10'4"). Freshman Catherine Shih also competed in the event. Snajder placed sixth in the high jump by clearing 1.5m (4'11").

Freshman Alisha Jordan was fourth in the triple jump with a mark of 10.9m (35'9.25"). She was also 15th in the long jump (4.77m, 15'7.75"). Parent also competed in the triple and long jumps; she was sixth in the triple jump (10.76m, 35'3.75") and tenth in the long jump (5.02m, 16'5.75"). Brunsdale placed sixth in the long jump in 5.2m (17'0.75").

In the throws, freshman Korbin Richards was tenth in the shot put with a toss of 9.92m (32'6.5"-- eighth all-time) and 16th in her first contest of the weight throw (9.15m, 30'0.25"). Junior Antonia Renker was ninth in the weight throw with a heave of 13.15m (43'1.75"), which is a new personal record indoors and ninth all-time at Yale.

The team will use today's results as an indicator of how it needs to prepare further for its next meet, which will also take place at Coxe Cage. The Yale Invitational will take place on Jan. 14th, 2012.